immediately and contact law enforcement if we have to.

>> For "Here& Now", I'm Steven Potter for the first time in more than a decade, control of Wisconsin's legislature is actually up for grabs this fall because of a new round of redistricting ordered by the Liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

>> Voters across the state are learning they actually live in a competitive district.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in the green Bay area, where there are 350 over 50 races with no incumbents "Here& Now", senior political reporter Zach Schultz spent a week in green Bay to meet the candidates and bring us this report.

Reporter.

>> Hello.

How are you?

>> I'm running for state assembly.

Yes.

So wanted to introduce myself.

>> What's important to you?

>> If I can ask, can I give you a flier, John?

Sure.

Okay.

I mean, I could tell you.

Oh, yeah.

That's me.

You got my vote.

Well.

Thank you.

All right.

Well, good seeing you, man.

All right.

Take care.

>> All across the green Bay area, candidates for the legislature are knocking doors, talking to voters and asking for their support.

But often, the first thing they have to do is explain which district they live in under the new maps.

>> I've knocked a lot of doors in the last couple of months here, and a lot of people aren't aren't aware of the changes yet, and a lot of it is just educating them.

folks whose door I'm knocking on, they're aware that there's new maps.

They know about it.

Do they know what number they're in?

No.

Republican Pat Buckley are facing off in the new 89th Assembly District.

>> My name is Ryan Spaude.

I'll keep it real short and sweet.

I'm a candidate for state assembly.

Brown County district Attorney's office.

He says the new district fits the definition of a fair map.

contiguous, competitive >> Pat Buckley is a retired police officer who sits on the Brown County Board.

>> My name is Pat Buckley.

Hey, I'm running for the 89th Assembly.

Okay?

And that's a new district created with Ashwaubenon.

decided not to run in this district, Buckley was recruited to run on the county.

>> We're nonpartisan, and we're supposed to be nonpartisan.

Even though we have people that lean left and people that lean right.

And as the chair, it's my job to bring those people together to help get things done.

>> Hey, sir.

Ben Franklin from a couple doors down.

How you doing?

Republican Ben Franklin is running against Democrat Kristy Welch in the new 88th Assembly district.

>> My name is Kristy.

I live over in East De Pere and was stopping by today because I'm running for state assembly this fall.

Brown County Democrats, but only got invested in politics in the last couple of years when Roe v Wade was overturned.

point, but a shoving point.

>> Franklin is a veteran and a small business owner who only moved to Wisconsin in the last couple of years.

>> I'm new to politics myself.

I'm not a career politician.

>> This is our first go around.

The 88th and 89th Assembly seats make up two thirds of the new 30th State Senate district.

I'm Jim Rafter.

president, and I'm running for state senate, which features Republican Jim Rafter and Democrat Jamie Wall.

>> I'm running for the Yeah, I actually just live a few blocks up that way.

>> Wall is a business consultant.

get them together around the table, get the facts and, you know, to solve problems together.

And that's the kind of mindset I'd want to bring to Madison.

president.

Democrats and Republicans.

We're a nonpartisan board.

I've done that for ten years, and all we do is focus on the job.

We don't focus on party.

>> There's no guarantee all three races go the same way.

On election day.

But there are a number of striking similarities, starting with the fact redistricting made all three districts competitive open seats.

old map, it was it was rigged.

It ran parts of Brown County that really didn't have a whole lot to do with each other.

And now it's contiguous.

It's compact.

hearing similar things at the doors.

>> Number one issue would be economics.

>> Economics?

Yeah.

Meaning employees in cost of living.

>> Both.

Number one issue.

I hear.

Economy.

Cost of living.

>> Democrats are hearing about costs, too.

But not just the price of eggs.

>> People are concerned about costs.

And there's lots of different buckets of costs.

But, you know, costs at the grocery store.

Housing costs.

Childcare costs.

Oh, boy.

>> Childcare.

You know anybody who's got young kids now?

I mean, it's about like sending your kids to college.

>> Another topic at the doors is abortion.

it's been the whole Roe v. Wade.

>> It's a topic all three Republicans are looking to avoid.

tricky one.

and I think that you know, it's not as simple as left and right.

>> They all pitched a version of Republican Senator Ron Johnson's idea of a statewide referendum on abortion.

>> I would recommend putting it up for a vote and a referendum, so to speak, and then just let the people decide on if they want to put a timeline on that.

>> However, Republicans in the legislature talked about this last session and never brought the issue to a vote in either chamber.

Democrats feel the issue still resonates with voters across the political spectrum.

women and men that are unhappy that that's what we're operating under now.

>> I think women should have the freedom to make choices and work with their with their doctor and without their state senator being in the middle of some of these, some of these decisions.

>> Surprisingly, none of the candidates were eager to talk about Donald Trump.

>> I will certainly vote for Donald Trump.

Do I think that his final word is gospel?

No, I don't, but I think that at the end of the day, we're all conservatives going back to the primary.

>> You know, it wasn't necessarily my first choice in the primary, but he's on he's on that part of the ticket.

So we'll look at the policies.

I prefer to look at the policies.

>> I'm not getting involved at the federal level in those race.

I'm focused on the people of the 30th district.

Trump?

decision and I'll vote for who I vote for.

>> For legislative Republicans in a 5050 district disavowing Trump completely risks having his supporters skip your race.

But coming out as full MAGA risks turning off moderates who don't like Trump but might vote Republican down ballot somehow.

>> I want to get that SOB in jail.

Who's that?

Mr. Trump?

>> Oh, in green Bay, Trump is creating his own kind of swing voter.

I've talked to, particularly swing voters lite liberals like conservatives that they're not necessarily going to vote a straight ticket.

And those are where I get in really meaningful conversations.

conversations as before Trump, he was a Republican.

>> There are so many people like me in this district that's that there's so many folks I've lost.

Count how many people I normally vote for Republican, or I consider myself a Republican, but I find myself voting for a lot of Democrats lately.

It's like, yes, like I was there in the end, 50 over 50 districts often come down to which candidate outworks the other and makes sure voters are energized to get to the polls.

>> It's going to be won by whoever knocks the most doors, raises the most money, makes the most phone calls, connects with voters.

time running for office.

I'm excited.

I'm energized.

I think there's going to be a lot of exhausted people, though.

By November 5th.

>> A lot of people haven't really thought about it yet, and haven't been putting that much energy into it.

I just haven't seen that much energy yet as some of the pundits on TV like to portray.

still apathy?

You know, there's still people who say, I'm tired of polarization.

I'm not even going to deal with politics.

Everyone's tired of polarization.

I'm tired of polarization.

Big reason why I'm running.

about it.

I mean, there's no shortage of politics in Brown County.

The downside of living in the epicenter of American politics is you got to deal with a lot of politics, you know, and that can be exhausting for people.

battleground or the battleground states, meaning that as green Bay votes, we already know different places around the state that they're going to vote red or blue.

But this will likely decide if Wisconsin goes red or blue.